If you were only going to convert a small number of records to digital, maybe taking or sending them to a service would work. A quick look online had prices starting at about $12 each, so could get expensive.

If you are going to continue playing vinyl, then investing in a turntable and USB phono stage makes sense. The Pro-Ject turntable should work, and a Pro-Ject Phono Box II USB, or a NAD PP3, both at $200, should be sufficient. I personally don't think the Bellari VP530 (which is not high end) would be much of an improvement, but it's only twice the price.

Your TC-750 is not quite as good as the Pro-Ject or NAD, but it's not to bad for its price. I have a TC-760LC btw, which I think would sound the same as TC-750. I retired it pretty quickly to get some thing better, but it's not a night and day difference. But even with the TC-750, and your old turntable, you should get an external sound card. Something like Tascam US 122MKII at $129.

Simpler and cheapest to just go with your current turntable, and the NAD which includes recording software, or the Proj-Ject which you'll need to add software that can be found for free. But a last note: If you don't like the sound of your Beogram RX-2 and cartridge now, I don't think you'll like it much better with any of the phono preamps discussed, or any preamp for that matter.

There is a cheap one in USB turntables. There are computer software solutions, Audacity will allow vinyl rips up to 24/96 I believe. For a good vinyl rip one obviously needs a good turntable/cartridge. A phono stage is a phono preamp. The Bellari VP530 is perhaps overkill with the ProJect Debut III, look to a Bellari VP130 iinstead. Unless your Beogram and its stylus are in top form I'd opt for a new turntable.

A phono stage, and phono preamp are the same thing, just different names. They're for the first level of amplification for the very low signals from moving magnet, or moving coil phono cartridge. They usually include an equalization function to restore the signal to a relatively flat frequency response.

An external sound card such as the one I listed has an analog to digital conversion ability, similar to the NAD, Pro-Ject, and Bellari USB phono preamps. An ADC capable sound card would only be used if you were using something like the TC-750 preamp that doesn't have an ADC, though you could probably even feed the signal to your computer, and then do the equalization with software.

The Pro-Ject turntable might be an upgrade over the Beogram, I don't know. With any decently capable turntable, I think the biggest upgrade might be the cartridge, though you didn't say which one you are using, so I don't know that either.

From what I can find, the MMC2 cartridge was top of the line Beogram, and may be a moving coil design judging from its output voltage. Looks like Beogram had their own unique mounting design, so other cartridge brands won't work. But if yours is in good shape it should sound very good.

The Pro-Ject's Otofon is an entry level moving magnet design, and while it's OK at $59, it's not too special. The Beogram MMC2 should be much better.

One MMC2 page at http://www.turntableneedles.com/MMC2_p_820.html and another http://www.lpgear.com/product/BOMMC2.html

The Music Hall USB-1 has a USB connection and a built-in phono stage and comes with an Audio-Technica cartridge. It is $249 from Audio Advisor and is not bad.

It is important to realize that a phono stage is partly to amplify the small cartridge voltage but also to EQUALIZE what is on the record with an RIAA equalization filter.

The output of the phono preamp stage is equalized and amplified so that it can connect to any input on a receiver or amplifier.

The information imbedded in the record grooves had the bass restricted in the recording process, so it must be restored to its proper level by the RIAA circuit; otherwise all you would hear is too much hi-frequency content and little else. If they didn't do this when they mastered the record, the bass would take up too much space and each side of an LP would hold about 4 minutes of music.

If the USB-1 is not quite good enough for you when you try it, you could spend another $150 or so on a better cartridge like the Audio-Tecnica ATP2 and get major improvement.

[quote=henryjg]For space reasons, I need to get rid of some of my large LP collection. I'd like to digitally archive some of them and then get rid of the vinyl. So I want to make sure I do it right. I bought a USB turntable (paid about $150) and tried it out, but I'm really not happy with the results. I'd like to get something better but can't afford anything really high-end.